The CFL’s collective bargaining agreement expired on Thursday night after talks came to a screeching halt earlier in the day, with no more negotiations planned.

It appears all that is left to do now is prepare for the league’s first work stoppage in 40 years.

The CFL offered a new proposal to the players’ association on Wednesday night in Toronto, and the union responded with a counter-offer on Thursday morning. While there was progress philosophically, the league claims they are now even further apart financially than they were two days ago. As a result, negotiations were called off and the sides then went their separate ways to plead their cases with the media.

“We’re not close at all,” CFL chief operating officer Michael Copeland said. “In fact, this offer is more expensive than the last offer that they provided to us.”

Despite the CBA’s expiration, veterans across the league are planning to report for medicals on Saturday morning and then hit the field for the first time on Sunday. The work stoppage that appears inevitable would occur a few days into training camps since Alberta labour laws reportedly require the Stampeders and Eskimos players to give 72 hours notice before they can strike.

Interestingly, the delay in the players’ heading for the picket line would allow CFL veterans to receive their first training camp pay cheques, and some of them — about a dozen per team, according to a source — would collect contract bonuses for passing their physicals on Saturday. Winnipeg Blue Bombers player rep Glenn January said the report-and-pass bonuses have nothing to do with the players’ planning to report on Saturday.

“We’re contractually obligated at this point to show up for camp, and we haven’t necessarily made a decision whether or not we’re going to be engaging in a work stoppage,” January said. “So it’s in the best interest of the players to show up and anticipate business as usual, because that’s what we’re hoping for.”

If there is good news, it’s that the sides appear to have come to an agreement on how to structure the new CBA. The only differences now are monetary, but they are large.

The CFLPA has acquiesced on its demand for revenue sharing, and both sides have agreed to a “revenue protection clause” that would call for the salary cap to be renegotiated or the CBA to be terminated after two years if the league experiences significant financial growth. They disagree, however, on how much growth it would take for that clause to kick in.

Copeland said the union’s counter-offer on Thursday morning was “completely unreasonable and unrealistic.” According to the league’s projections, Copeland said three teams would still have operating losses in 2014 under the league’s current offer, which includes upping the salary cap from $4.4 million to $5 million. He added that, if the CFL accepted the players’ current offer, which calls for a $5.8-million cap this year, six of nine teams would lose money and the other three would break even. And that includes the league’s fat new TV deal with TSN.

“So, we realize that they didn’t express an interest in reaching a negotiated deal at this point,” Copeland said, “and we feel very strongly in our position.”

The players, meanwhile, feel the same about the league and its owners.

“We have shown a willingness to negotiate and we’re willing to go to the table and give up something to make sure this is done,” January said. “I’m not sure that’s being done with both sides.”

The CFL e-mailed its latest proposal, which it called its “best offer,” directly to the players on Thursday afternoon, and Copeland said the ball is in the players’ court.

“We’re hoping that they put it to a vote of the players and the players see the value in it,” he said.

The union, meanwhile, is continuing to tell its members to be ready for a work stoppage. That includes making sure players who might be in financial trouble during a strike get the necessary support from their teammates.

“That’s a contingency plan for us,” January said, “if we don’t get something accomplished in the next two or three days.”

WHERE DO WE STAND

THE LEAGUE OFFERED …

- Increasing the salary cap from $4.4 million to $5 million in 2014 and adding $50,000 in each of the following five years, bringing the cap to a maximum of $5,250,000.

- Increasing the minimum salary from $45,000 to $50,000 in 2014 and adding $1,000 each of the following five years.

- An “Extraordinary Revenue Protection Clause” that provides an agreement to renegotiate an increase to the annual salary cap if the CFL teams generate more than $27 million in aggregate revenue in any year versus the prior year (beginning with 2015 versus 2014). This could cause a negotiated increase to the salary cap as early as the 2016 season. Failing agreement by the CFL and CFLPA on such an increase, the CFLPA could bring this CBA to an early end and require that a new CBA be negotiated.

- Ratification bonus of $5,000 to veteran players and $1,500 to rookies if the offer is accepted before Monday.

- Restrict the number of contact practices during the regular season (did not indicate how many).

THE PLAYERS RESPONDED WITH …

- Salary cap of $5.8M in 2014 with 3% increases annually.

- Salary floor of $4.8M that increases with the cap.

- “Revenue Protection Clause” that allows for a fixed cap for at least two years. After the second year, if there is an increase in revenue on a league-wide basis of more than $12 million, excluding Grey Cup, the parties will renegotiate the cap or the collective agreement will be jointly terminated at the end of that season.

- A $15,000 bonus for veteran players to compensate them for a rise in the league minimum.